Brennan: Kaymer ensures 2014 U.S Open fails to thrill

Jun. 15, 2014
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Pinehurst, NC, USA; Martin Kaymer (right) celebrates with the trophy in front of USGA president Tom O'Toole, Jr. (left) during the final round of the 2014 U.S. Open golf tournament at Pinehurst Resort Country Club - #2 Course. / Kevin Liles, USA TODAY Sports

by Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports

by Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports

The 2014 U.S. Open was visually intriguing with its brown sandscape, wire grass and pine straw, not the traditional and brutal calf-high rough we've grown accustomed to over the years at these championships.

It had all the big names of golf, except for the biggest, of course, but that's becoming a familiar theme.

And it was played at a beloved golf mecca, a majestic and historic setting that drew almost universal praise as a "true test of golf."

That is all well and good, and people who love golf will rave about Pinehurst No. 2 until the end of time, but there's simply no way to manufacture true drama on the weekend when a golf tournament is over Friday.

Martin Kaymer saw to that. When he fired stunning back-to-back 5-under-par 65s Thursday and Friday, opening up a six-shot lead with the lowest 36-hole score in the 114-year history of this event, there was no catching him. The highlight reel of his first two days of play was more eye-catching than anything that happened in the last two.

The weekend was an afterthought, exactly what the U.S. Golf Association did not want. It's a great credit to Kaymer's precise and unyielding play, but it was a total buzz kill for the event.

It's not Kaymer's fault, of course. He played beautifully and was just waiting to be chased, but the challenge never came. Before the tournament began, he said he thought 8-over-par would win the event. He was off by only 17 strokes.

Perhaps someday the 29-year-old Kaymer will be the draw that Tiger Woods and, to a far lesser degree, Rory McIlroy are now. When they went wire-to-wire in their U.S. Open wins - Tiger in 2000 and 2002, and Rory in 2011 - the coronations were welcomed as destiny fulfilled.

This one was more of a fait accompli. In hindsight, it was the What-Might-Have-Been Open.

"Martin's playing his own golf tournament," said one of the two second-place finishers, Rickie Fowler.

The battle for second was far more interesting. Fowler, the bright and bold 25-year-old, shared the runner-up spot with the best story of the week, including Kaymer.

That belonged to Erik Compton, 34, a two-time heart transplant recipient playing on the weekend in a major for the first time. He hung on to tie Fowler at 1-under par for the tournament, with both men shooting 2-over 72s Sunday, finishing eight strokes behind Kaymer.

It was the best finish of Compton's career in his 100th PGA Tour event. "I've never gotten this far along in my story," he said.

Compton, along with the various Payne Stewart tributes sprinkled throughout the week, provided this tournament with its soul. First there was 28-year-old Chelsea Stewart, emulating her late father's iconic fist pump beside the statute that re-creates the moment from the 1999 Open.

Then, Sunday, defending Open champion Justin Rose sank his final putt on No. 18 and immediately, and respectfully, struck the Stewart pose.

Kaymer's rout was so complete we're left talking about statues and 15-year-old memories, not this weekend's performances.

There was one man who could have saved us from this, if only his play had been as good as his imagination. That was Phil Mickelson, who didn't finish tied for second again but instead tied for 28th, never breaking par.

"It wasn't disappointing," he said, even though it really was. "It was a fun week. I just loved the golf course, the setup, how it played, how fair it was."

Now a full six years after Tiger won his last major, this is men's golf in a nutshell. The week went out not with a bang, but with a whimper.